The Snapshot wrote:Mark Eaton's time cannot come soon enough for me. He is what Scuderi used to be, which is weak and an easy target for the opposing team's checkers. I still remember Shero talking about his "good first pass" when he signed him originally, I just don't remember seeing one yet.

Thank You! I couldn't agree more about Eaton. You can just see the opposing team licking their chops when they dump to his side as he cowers and loses the one on one battle. The Eaton of two years ago is long gone, and this one is terrible. I think our love of him when the defense was awful and sympathy during his injuries has led this board to turn blind eyes to his horrendous play. I have seen way too many comments about his strong play and not noticing him do anything wrong. I lack total confidence in his ability right now, and when Gill comes back, I think he should sit some. He needs to regain confidence in his ability and realize that if he tears his ACL or not, he'll be sitting, so he better grow some courage along the boards and improve his play.

I've never liked him from Day 1, and when he first came here I said we could not afford to have two guys like him and Scuderi on the same D corps. To Scuderi's credit, he has gotten 100% better but Eaton has gotten 100% worse. He can't skate particularly well, he can't pass, he can't shoot and he has zero ability to slip a hit on the forecheck. It used to be that if you heard the glass rattling you could look and see Scuderi on his back. That is now Eaton.

This kind of guy gets the other team's forecheckers whipped into a feeding frenzy. One hit leads to another, and pretty soon the other team is flying all over the place.